Appliances for slicing and shredding vegetables, fruits, cheeses and other foods have been well known kitchen appliances for many years. Typically, such appliances are powered by a fractional horsepower electric motor which is coupled through geared reduction means to drive slicing or shredding discs. It is conventional to provide several different types of discs or implements to enable the user to perform various types of slicing and shredding tasks. The slicing discs typically have raised blades extending generally radially with respect to the disc, such blades being formed so that there is an adjacent slot through which the sliced material passes. By having several discs with the blades spaced at different distances above the plane of the disc, foods fed into the disc from the top will be sliced in thicknesses which are directly related to the spacing of the blade above the disc. The shredding discs designed for shredding cheese, cabbage or carrots, for example, include radially extending rows of small blades formed by forming portions of the disc upwardly. The above-described types of cutting implements are common to almost all slicing and shredding appliances and serve to produce the desired types of sliced and shredded vegetables and cheeses.
As one can easily imagine, a slicing and shredding appliance is potentially very dangerous since the sharp blades on the implements might easily cut the fingers or hands of the operator if suitable safety means are not provided. In this connection, it has been conventional to provide a housing or receptacle within which the rotating implement or blade is enclosed. A suitable access or feed chute is provided, the chute being sufficiently elongated and narrow so that the fingers of the user may not easily extend into engagement with the cutting implements. At the same time, the chute permits vegetables, fruits and cheeses to be inserted and pushed into engagement with the cutting implements.
In the early days of slicing and shredding appliances, the provision of the above-described receptacle with its food insertion chute was considered to provide sufficient protection for the consumer. However, as consumers became more safety conscious and a greater appreciation was developed of the types of accidents that could occur, there was a demand for further safety means. In the earlier units, it was always possible to omit the cover for the receptacle and energize the motor, thereby rotating the cutting implements in their exposed position. In order to eliminate this possibility, various types of interlocks have been provided which prevent energization of the drive motor unless and until the cover to the receptacle is properly positioned. Examples of such prior art interlocks on slicing and/or shredding appliances are shown in the U.S. patents to Mantelet, No. 3,528,469, Marrie, No. 3,809,325, and Verdun, No. 3,892.365, and German Pat. No. 2,228,189. In the appliances disclosed in all of these patents, there is means associated with the cover for the receptacle which operates an interlock switch in series with the drive motor. Thus, until the switch is operated by the cover, the normal control for the appliance will have no effect in energizing the drive motor. Another related prior art patent is the U.S. patent to Nevison, No. 3,612,414, which is directed to a coffee mill having a mechanical interlock which is operated by the cover of the coffee mill. The application of the cover to the housing in the Nevison disclosure depresses the entire coupling and receptacle thereby permitting it to be mechanically coupled to its drive means.
Certain foods or vegetables typically sliced or shredded in appliances of the type discussed herein present greater difficulty than others insofar as proper slicing or shredding is concerned. Some foods tend to clog or jam the disc, and others are of a delicate nature and present problems insofar as discharging the sliced product without turning it into an unappetizing-looking puree. In the first category are certain types of cheese which, after being shredded, tend to reform into a homogenous mass if any amount of pressure is applied to the grated cheese. Such homogenous mass when positioned within the vessel or receptacle below the shredding disc has a tendency to jam or restrain rotation of the disc. In order to avoid this problem, it is desirable to form the receptacle and the shredding disc in such a way that the shredded material is discharged from the receptacle as quickly as possible without permitting it to jam up between the bottom of the disc and the floor of the receptacle.
Similarly, with respect to delicate foods such as sliced mushrooms and cucumbers and the like, if they are to be processed with as little distortion of the sliced vegetables as possible, they must be promptly discharged from the receptacle immediately after being sliced.
It is known in the art to provide slicing and shredding implements with fins or ribs on their lower surfaces which fins or ribs serve to push the sliced or shredded foods toward the adjacent discharge chute. Examples of such prior art slicing or shredding implements are found in the U.S. patents to Nieland, No. 2,805,697, Rodwick, No. 3,032,087, and Berland, No. 3,738,585, and British Pat. No. 1,140,669. Although these prior art patents show the use of pushers associated with the slicing or shredding implements, the housing configurations are not designed to maximize the discharge efficiency of the appliance. In all cases, the discharge chutes are located toward the outer periphery of the slicing or shredding implement and have portions of the flat bottom of the receptacle extending continuously around beneath the inner diameter of the slicing or shredding implement. As a consequence, reliance must be placed on centrifugal force to assure discharge of some of the sliced and shredded material. This leaves the possibility or likelihood that certain types of foods will not be promptly discharged from the receptacle and will either cause jamming of the slicing or shredding implement or become further distorted by remaining in the receptacle for at least one complete revolution of the cutting implement.